McLean County Times

City of Lexington City Council met March 24.

Here are the minutes provided by the council:

The regular meeting of the Lexington City Council was called to order at 7:00 P.M. by Mayor Spencer Johansen in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.

Mayor Spencer Johansen led the council in the Pledge of Allegiance.

Roll call was taken to find the following physically present: Mayor Spencer Johansen, Alderman Mattingly, Alderman Stover, Alderman Richard, Alderwoman Wilson and Alderman Franklin. Members of the public and staff present were: Chief Edmiaston.

It was moved by Alderwoman Wilson and seconded by Alderman Mattingly to approve the minutes of the March 10, 2025 regular session meeting. Motion carried unanimously.

It was moved by Alderman Stover and seconded by Alderman Franklin to approve the Treasurer’s Report and paying of the bills in the amount of $33,804.61. Motion carried unanimously.

Public Input: None

Old Business: None

New Business:

DISCUSSION/VOTE ORDINANCE 2025-2: APPROVING THE ACQUISITION OF REAL PROPERTY LOCATED AT 506 ½ WEST MAIN STREET

The developers of 2 B Investments, LLC have dropped out of the agreement with the hardware store. This ordinance needs to be passed to have the property signed back over to us.

Motion was made by Alderman Richard and seconded by Alderman Mattingly to approve Ordinance 2025-2: Approving the Acquisition of Real Property Located at 506 ½ West Main Street. Motion carried unanimously.

Discussion/Vote Ordinance 2025-3: Regarding the Compensation of the Mayor Subsequent to the 2029 Municipal Election

We have discussed this before. This ordinance is modeled after an ordinance that Morton has. It adds more duties to future mayors and gives more compensation for doing those duties. Morton added an additional $900 per month for the additional duties. If the mayor does not perform the duties the compensation will go back to the original amount. We need to define what the duties of the mayor will be for the next four years. We do not need to vote on this tonight.

Alderman Stover was concerned about how we would measure it. He has made a list on both sides and he is torn between the two sides.

Mayor Johansen is torn as to how it would work as well. It is unknown how the next mayor will do the job and this might give them something to fall back on. As aldermen or mayor you have no set hours other than to do everything legal. Nothing says how many hours he has to be in his office.

It was noted that the previous administration was unavailable unless something was going on. If we don’t do something, how do we reward them for doing something extra? Alderman Richard asked how do we word that?

Mayor Johansen felt the key to our success is having someone here everyday. That is the part of our success that will need to remain the same.

Alderman Franklin commented if the next person already has a job they may not have the energy to put into this job.

There was more discussion concerning the need to hire a city manager that would answer to the council and make a position that they could put a mayor in.

It was felt that there is now a need for an Economic Development Committee. The next four years are going to be critical for our town. We need to be looking for council members now so we have a good list of names for when council positions open up. What will it take to get more people interested in the council and mayoral positions? What is the dollar amount?

It was felt that the committees needed to get more involved. By the end of the next four years we will have a good game plan and the next mayor may not need to be here as much, making the role a little easier. Mayor Johansen will be very picky who the next person is going to be. It will be hard to turn it over to the next person who cannot do the job. One of the keys to the job is they have someone to talk to when they come in. We need to get better at committee meetings and sharing information in the next four years.

Alderman Franklin commented that Alderwoman Wilson is willing to serve on the Insurance Committee and that would free him up to serve on the Economic Development Committee.

Motion was made by Alderman Franklin and seconded by Alderman Richard to table the vote on Ordinance 2025-3 for further discussion. Motion carried unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Mayor’s Report: Mayor Johansen reported on the following: He was disappointed in the loss of the hardware store but he has another plan in mind.

There are plans for the first duplex in Century Oaks on Star’s desk. The Planning Commission is to meet on April 14th.

Bids for the new building are coming in. They are down to the details. They are unable to store anything in the Dry Storage Building without it rusting.

They are adding another squad car to the fleet. It should be here soon.

Alderman Stover is continuing to work on the budget.

They continue to work on the water problem in the tile around the Dry Storage Building. The water is running and they think it is clean water from a water leak but do not know where it is coming from. They will be digging beside the building this week to locate the tile and see where it goes. They thought it might be behind Brandt’s building and put some dye in it but it never came out. He feels it could have been leaking for a long time.

The tile under the tracks is fine except they are too small. Long term storm sewer plan we need to look at replacing all of that.

He is meeting with a firm out of Chicago that is thinking of opening an office in the area. We need to look at fresh ideas.

He spoke with a reporter who wanted to do an article on Lexington and the key to our successful downtown which was our fiber optics. He informed them that no one asked him about our internet when they were thinking of coming to town. We have been successful with our downtown. That’s not the reason we are successful. We have a council that is open minded and wants to bring new business to town and we work with anybody. The county is pushing fiber optics.

They have entered into a new agreement for the bicycle trail. We will see the expansion a mile north and a mile south of Lexington. There is a freeze on the Towanda portion of the trail. The work should be done this summer.

We have a new contract with Allied Waste. We will see a 5% increase each year for the next five years starting January 1, 2026.

Star and I will post on social media how to file a compliant, open council position and other items.

Police: Alderman Richard reported that he is working on gym memberships for the Police Department and employees.

They have had three more inquiries into the School Resource Officer position. All are local to McLean County. One is not a police officer and will need to be sent to the academy. Chief Edmiaston is not opposed to this if the council is not and they are a good candidate.

It was noted there were some changes to the wording of the job posting, that they could work the school calendar if that fitted the applicants schedule better than working twelve months of the year. That is not what the chief would prefer but thought it might be a good fit for a newly retired applicant.

Building/Insurance Alderman Franklin reported that Alderwoman Wilson offered to work on the Insurance Committee in the coming year.

New committee assignments will be in May.

Finance /TIF Alderman Stover continues to work on the budget.

Public Works Alderman Stover reported they are waiting to hear back from Concentric.

There being no further business, a motion was made by Alderman Franklin to adjourn at 7:42 P.M. Motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

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